THOMAS DICKSON, 1ST MADRAS FUSILIERS (THE POST 1880 1ST BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS). Indian Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Victoria, 2nd type, anchor reverse (officially engraved in running script: Thomas Dickson 1st. Madras Fusiliers.). Attractive light tone, Extremely Fine.
Rare, only approximately 100 anchor reverse Indian Army L.S.G.C.issued.
Fred B. Larimore in his "The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal" (Orders and Medals Research Society, 2014) records that, of the approximately 100 anchor reverse LSGC Medals awarded between January 1858 and February 1861, some 29 were known by him as having survived. All the medals that he recorded as having survived were awarded to European soldiers, and of these, 17 of the known medals were issued to Honorable East India Company's European regiments. In addition, of the 29 medals know to Larimore, one was awarded to a Bombay Army recipient and 4 to Madras Army recipients, with the other 24 being awarded to Bengal Army recipients. This medal to Thomas Cobb not previously recorded by Larimore now brings the known total of surviving anchor reverse Indian Army LSGC Medals to 30.
The actual origins of this rare medal are a mystery, but it is believed that approximately 100 were manufactured in error in London and sent out to India in 1859. They are known to have been issued by all three Indian Presidencies, but the mistake was only discovered the following year by the government of Bombay, by which time all 100 medals had probably been issued. In 1873, in response to an India Office request to explain the difference in design of the medals for "Long Service and Good Conduct and Meritorious Service" supplied to this office and those supplied to the War Office, Mr Wyan, who struck the medals, after replying to the request for information, stated "there is also a Naval Long Service Medal, but it has probably never been used", which would indicate that these medals were originally intended to be issued to European members of the Indian Navy (hence the anchor reverse) and were actually issued to the armies of the Bombay Presidencies in error.